Israel will release convicted Hezbollah spy Nassim Nasser from administrative detention and return him to Lebanon on Sunday, as an unofficial first step in a prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah. Israel has not formally said that Nasser's release is part of the deal, in which Hezbollah is expected to free Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, the two Israeli reservists whose July 2006 abduction sparked the Second Lebanon War. In exchange for the two reservists, Israel will release six Lebanese prisoners and return the bodies of 10 Hezbollah militants.
Israeli officials think the relatively low price Israel is expected to pay for Regev and Goldwasser appears to indicate that they are no longer alive.
Nasser, a Lebanese citizen reportedly born to a Shi'ite Muslim father and Jewish mother, was sentenced in 2002 to six years in prison for spying for Hezbollah. He finished serving his sentence early this year, but he was subsequently held in administrative detention, apparently so that he could be used as a bargaining chip in a deal for the release of Regev and Goldwasser.
Nasser's lawyer, Smadar Ben-Natan, said she has been notified that her client, who received Israeli citizenship after moving to Israel but has since had his citizenship revoked, would be deported to Lebanon on Sunday. He will be returned via the Rosh Hanikra crossing, with the assistance of the Red Cross and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.